Max Verstappen duly claimed pole for the opening race of the new Formula One season at the Bahrain Grand Prix but the focus of attention under the floodlights and the palm trees remained as it has all week on Verstappen’s team principal, Christian Horner, and his Red Bull team.
With all the turmoil and drama that has swirled round Red Bull, this was a salutary reminder that as a sporting entity they remain spectacularly well-honed for all the chaos that currently orbits their core purpose of going racing.
In the first run of the season when the gloves truly came off, Red Bull proved to have the advantage that had been expected and dreaded by the opposition. What had been a fearsomely dominant car last year developed with an aggressive evolution into once more being the clear leader of the pack.
Verstappen beat the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc into second by two-tenths and the Mercedes of George Russell into third by three-tenths. Carlos Sainz was fourth for Ferrari, Sergio Pérez fifth for Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton in ninth for Mercedes.
Red Bull had not been on top in practice but had built toward getting it right when it mattered and Verstappen duly delivered. It had not been quite the complete dominance that had been anticipated but the gap still feels enormous, given the car’s real strength lies in its race pace.
Verstappen had shown his true hand on the first run in Q3 with a strong lap, which he then improved as the circuit rubbered-in, improving by three-tenths to clock 1min 29.179sec, enough to claim pole from Leclerc. Most notably, however, this was on a track that is hard on the tyres and has not been well-suited to the Red Bull in the past, making for an ominous marker. Indeed, Leclerc and Russell acknowledged that they feared Verstappen would run and hide from pole on Saturday.
Yet for all that Red Bull did make their mark it was to the backdrop of an almost surreal tenor across the Bahrain International Circuit. Trackside for the fans there remained the air of effortless enjoyment of a day out at the race amid pounding dance music; the quieter but almost dense, febrile atmosphere of the paddock was a world away, a world where the mood has grown increasingly heavy as each day of the week passed.
By Friday when rumours of another potential leak purporting to be from the investigation into Horner abounded but did not materialise, it was impossible not to sense that the racing had become at best a sideshow. On Wednesday, Horner had been exonerated by an independent investigation following a complaint regarding his behaviour from a female employee. Then the first leak of alleged messages relating to the investigation on Thursday dropped shortly into the final practice session, when Hamilton had topped the timesheets at its close and what would have been something of a minor headline moment went all but unnoticed.
It has been the same all week. Camera crews were doing almost all their presenting in front of the team’s hospitality, guests sipping coffee in the background and the occasional team member providing set dressing to the conjecture and supposition in front of the lenses.
When Horner emerged to make the short walk to the garage for the final practice session on Friday he was subsumed by cameras and microphones, bombarded by the questions he has faced all week and to which he gave only a reassertion of his insistence that he would not comment on events.
Team members did their best to ensure it was business as usual, the chief engineer Paul “Pedals” Monaghan offering his usual upbeat attitude, laughing and smiling with colleagues. Verstappen, who declined twice when asked on Wednesday to offer his confidence and backing for Horner, before the investigation’s verdict was announced, remained very much in driver mode.
His game face was on, as it is regardless of the circumstances, but he, like everyone in the paddock, will have been affected by the events of the past few days since it has been impossible to ignore. Verstappen compartmentalised and showed the usual precision execution to claim pole but he seems to want to remain disconnected from it for all that it could still have a seismic effect on his team and the man who was instrumental in bringing him into F1 itself when he was still only 17 years old.
Yet for others in the paddock it was increasingly becoming impossible to step aside and the pressure to act is growing with every day. Both the FIA and F1 were hosting a relentless series of inquiries as to their position and their prospective action, since Red Bull’s parent company has declared the case closed, said it will not make any information on the investigation public and declined to comment any further.
Both bodies were insistent they could not speak or act until they had been given access to the evidence of Red Bull’s investigation. It is questionable how long they can maintain this stance. There was a palpable air that other senior figures within the paddock know this is damaging for the sport and not only want it resolved but resolved in an accountable and public fashion, further contributing to the undeniable sense that Horner, and by association his team, is under siege even as they opened with the perfect start.
Fernando Alonso was sixth for Aston Martin, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri seventh and eighth for McLaren and Nico Hülkenberg tenth for Haas.
Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo were in 11th and 14th for RB, Lance Stroll in 12th for Aston Martin, Alex Albon in 13th for Williams and Kevin Magnussen in 15th for Haas.
Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou were in 16th and 17th for Stake F1, Logan Sargeant 18th for Williams, while the Alpine’s poor pre-season form was confirmed in no uncertain fashion with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in 19th and 20th.
